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YOUR AUDIENCE IS (ALWAYS) THE HERO

  • Writer: Jeremy Connell-Waite
    Jeremy Connell-Waite
  • May 19
  • 3 min read

Jacob Collier’s commencement address at Berklee College of Music wasn’t just a speech. It was a reminder that the best communicators don’t merely deliver information, they create an experience. And in doing so, they make their audience feel seen (and heard).

 

From the very first moments, Jacob Collier burst onto the stage with the energy of a man genuinely delighted to be there. No corporate stiffness. No over-rehearsed gravitas. No attempt to appear “important.” Instead, there was joy. Curiosity. Playfulness. Human warmth. He immediately connected with the graduates by treating them not as passive listeners, but as collaborators in the moment.

 

That distinction matters.


 

Such a great talk. 😍


Even though Jacob is a musician who was essentially speaking to a music school, we can learn a lot from him as business leaders.

 

Too many business leaders approach communication as a transfer of information. They obsess over slides, data points, talking tracks, and the things they want to say. But audiences are not waiting patiently to admire the brilliance of the presenter. They are subconsciously asking a far more personal question:

 

“Do you understand me?”

 

Jacob Collier understood his audience instinctively. He knew he was speaking to musicians, creators, dreamers, and young people standing at the edge of uncertainty. So instead of turning the spotlight on his own achievements, he reflected their potential back at them. He transformed a commencement speech into a shared emotional experience. In many ways, he behaved less like a keynote speaker and more like a conductor guiding an orchestra.

 

That is a profound lesson for any business leader.

 

The audience is always the hero.


"People are not persuaded by what you say, but by what they understand."

Dr. John C Maxwell

 

The role of the communicator is not to stand above the audience, but to stand beside them as a guide. Great storytelling is not an act of self-expression. It is an act of service. The best presenters understand that communication is not about saying what is impressive. It is about helping people feel something meaningful enough that they are willing to think differently, believe differently, or act differently afterwards.

 

Jacob’s enthusiasm also revealed another truth that many executives forget: energy is contagious.

 

Audiences rarely become excited because a slide tells them to. They become excited because the speaker is visibly alive with belief. Jacob’s unfiltered passion gave the room permission to relax, participate, laugh, and feel optimistic. You could sense the audience leaning forward, not because they were being lectured, but because they were being invited into something joyful and human.

 

Business leaders often underestimate the power of this. They believe professionalism requires emotional restraint. But the communicators we remember most (whether in music, politics, teaching, or business) are usually those who cared enough to bring emotional energy into the room.

 

And perhaps that is the deeper brilliance of Jacob Collier’s speech? Beneath the humour, music, and charisma was a philosophy that every leader should remember:

 

People do not want perfect presentations.

 

They want presence.

 

They want authenticity.

 

They want to feel understood.

 

They want to feel heard.

 

The irony is that when leaders stop obsessing over themselves and start focusing entirely on the audience, they often become far more compelling in the process. Because audiences can feel the difference between a speaker performing for applause and a speaker genuinely trying to give something meaningful away.


Jacob Collier gave the graduates a moment they will probably remember for the rest of their lives.

 

Not because he talked about himself.

 

But because he made them feel more alive.


That's why this quote from Jacob sits proudly at the bottom of the StoriesThat.Work website:


"It doesn't matter how many people you engaged. All that matters is how many people of those people you MOVED."


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